The Science of the Buddha

21 Day Retreat June 1st - 21st, 2012

Plum Village 13 Martineau 33580 Dieulivol, France www.plumvillage.org Plum Village Practice Center was established in 1982 in Southern France, founded by the Venerable teacher Thch Nht Hnh. These materials are for reference only. Not for publication. This booklet is for the 2012 - 21 Day Retreat, The Science of the Buddha organized by the Plum Village Practice Center. Printed in France

The Science of the Buddha

A collection of Sutras and Articles for reference

Contents
G
Introduction The Heart of Perfect Understanding
Prajpramithdayastram (The Heart

8 10 12 13 14 16 17 19 20 21

of Perfect Understanding in Sanskrit)

(The Heart of Perfect Understanding) The Discourse on Emptiness in its Ultimate Meaning (The Discourse on Emptiness in its Ultimate Meaning) The Discourse on the Middle Way (The Discourse on the Middle Way) The Discourse on the Emptiness of Compounded Things (The Discourse on the Emptiness of Compounded Things)

The Discourse on the Adaptation of Conditioned Genesis Connected with Emptiness 24 (The Discourse on the Adaptation of Conditioned Genesis Connected with Emptiness) 26

The Paramrtha Gths of Asaga

Gathas on the Absolute Truth

28 40

51 Mental Formations The Thirty Verses of Vasubandhu

Triikvijaptikrik

43 51 60

Enjoyment of What Is Beyond Time and Space Letter to a Young Scientist

Introduction

In Buddhism there are two kinds of truth: conventional truth (S: samvtisatya C: ) and ultimate truth (S: paramrtha-satya, C: ). In the framework of conventional truth, Buddhists speak of being and non-being, birth and death, coming and going, inside and outside, one and many, and so on. The Buddhist teaching and practice based on this framework helps reduce suffering and bring more harmony and happiness. In the framework of the ultimate truth, the teaching transcends notions of being and non-being, birth and death, coming and going, inside and outside, one and many, and so on. The teaching and practice based on this insight help practitioners liberate themselves from discrimination and fear, and touch nirvana, the ultimate reality. Buddhists see no conflict between the two kinds of truth and are free to make good use of both frameworks. Classical science, as seen in Newtons theories, is built upon a framework reflecting everyday experience. In this framework, material objects have an individual existence and can be located in time and space. Quantum physics provides a framework for understanding how nature operates on subatomic scales that differs completely from classical science. In this framework, there is no such thing as empty space, and the position of an object and its momentum cannot simultaneously be precisely determined. Elementary particles fluctuate in and out of existence, and do not really exist but have only a tendency to exist. Classical science seems to reflect the conventional truth and quantum physics seems to be on its way to discover the ultimate truth, trying very hard to discard notions such as being and non-being, inside and outside, sameness and otherness, and so on. At the same time, scientists are trying to find out the relationship between the two kinds of truth represented by the two kinds of science, because both can be tested and applied in life. In science, a theory should be tested in several ways before it can be

accepted by the scientific community. The Buddha also recommended, in the Klma Stra,1 that any teaching and insight given by any teacher should be tested by our own experience before it can be accepted as the truth. Real insight, or right view (S: samyag-di, C: ), has the capacity to liberate and to bring peace and happiness. The findings of science are also insight; they can be applied in technology, but can be applied also to our daily behavior to improve the quality of our life and happiness. Buddhists and scientists can share with each other their ways of studying and practice and can profit from each others insights and experience. The practice of mindfulness and concentration always brings insight. It can help both Buddhists and scientists. Insights transmitted by realized practitioners like the Buddhas and bodhisattvas can be a source of inspiration and support for both Buddhist practitioners and scientists, and scientific tests can help Buddhist practitioners understand better and have more confidence in the insight they receive from their ancestral teachers. It is our belief that in this 21st century, Buddhism and science can go hand in hand to promote more insight for us all and bring more liberation, reducing discrimination, separation, fear, anger, and despair in the world. The practices of mindfulness and concentration can help scientists to be better scientists, and, in this way, Buddhism can act as a source of inspiration, suggesting directions for future investigation and discovery. In this retreat we will explore how insights from science can be useful, not only to develop technology and improve our material comfort, but to reduce the suffering of individuals, families, and society. This retreat will bring a lot of joy to and confidence in both traditions as we find out that good science and good Buddhism can be much and do much for the wellbeing of the world.

1. Aguttara Nikaya 3.65

The Heart of Perfect Understanding

The Bodhisattva Avalokita, while moving in the deep course of Perfect Understanding, shed light on the Five Skandhas and found them equally empty. After this penetration, he overcame ill-being. Listen, Shariputra, form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. Form is not other than emptiness, emptiness is not other than form. The same is true with feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. Listen, Shariputra, all dharmas are marked with emptiness. They are neither produced nor destroyed, neither defiled nor immaculate, neither increasing nor decreasing. Therefore in emptiness there is neither form, nor feelings, nor perceptions, nor mental formations, nor consciousness. No eye, or ear, or nose, or tongue, or body, or mind. No form, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no object of mind. No realms of elements (from eyes to mind consciousness), no interdependent origins and no extinction of them (from ignorance to death and decay). No ill-being, no cause of ill-being, no end of ill-being, and no path. No understanding and no attainment. Because there is no attainment, the Bodhisattvas, grounded in Perfect Understanding, find no obstacles for their minds. Having no obstacles, they overcome fear, liberating themselves forever from illusion, realizing perfect nirvana. All Buddhas in the past, present, and future,

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thanks to this Perfect Understanding, arrive at full, right, and universal enlightenment. Therefore, one should know that Perfect Understanding is the highest mantra, the unequaled mantra, the destroyer of ill-being, the incorruptible truth. A mantra of Prajaparamita should therefore be proclaimed: Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha.

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(The Heart of Perfect Understanding in Sanskrit)

Prajpramithdayastram

ryvalokitevarabodhisattvo gambhry prajpramity cary caramo vyavalokayati sma | paca skandh, tca svabhvanyn payati sma || iha riputra rpa nyat, nyataiva rpam | rpnna pthak nyat, nyaty na pthag rpam | yadrpa s nyat, y nyat tadrpam || evameva vedansajsaskravijnni || iha riputra sarvadharm nyatlaka anutpann aniruddh amal na vimal non na paripr | tasmcchriputra nyaty na rpam, na vedan, na saj, na saskr, na vijnni | na cakurotraghrajihvkyamansi, na rpaabdagandharasaspraavyadharm | na cakurdhturyvanna manodhtu || na vidy nvidy na vidykayo nvidykayo yvanna jarmaraa na jarmaraakayo na dukhasamudayanirodhamrg na jna na prptitvam || bodhisattvasya prajpramitmritya viharaty acittvaraa | cittvaraanstitvdatrasto viparystikrnto nihanirva | tryadhvavyavasthit sarvabuddh prajpramitmritya anuttar samyaksabodhimabhisabuddh || tasmjjtavya prajpramitmahmantro mahvidymantro nuttaramantro samasamamantra sarvadukhapraamana satyamamithyatvt prajpramitymukto mantra | tadyath - gate gate pragate prasagate bodhi svh ||

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(The Heart of Perfect Understanding)

13

The Discourse on Emptiness in its Ultimate Meaning

Thus have I heard. At one time, the Buddha was staying in a village of the cow-herding Kuru people. At that time, the Buddha said to the monks: I will teach you Dharma which is good in its beginning, middle, and end, which is of good meaning and good flavor, entirely pure, pure for the noble life, namely: The discourse on emptiness in its ultimate meaning. Listen attentively, consider well, and I will teach you. What is the discourse on emptiness in its ultimate meaning? Monks, when the eye arises, there is no place from which it comes; when it ceases, there is no place to which it goes. Thus, the eye, without any real substance, arises; having arisen it will finally have to cease. It is a result of some action but there is no actor at all. When one aggregate ceases, another aggregate continues. All other conventional designations, such as ear, nose, tongue, body and mind can equally be described that way. The meaning of conventional designations is: Because this is, that is; because this arises, that arises, thus: Conditioned by ignorance are formations; conditioned by formations is consciousness, and so on ... and thus arises this whole mass of suffering. And again, when this is not, that is not; when this ceases, that ceases. When ignorance ceases, formations cease; when formations cease, consciousness ceases, and so on ..., and thus ceases this whole mass of suffering.

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Monks, this is called the discourse on emptiness in its ultimate meaning. When the Buddha had taught this discourse, the monks, having heard what the Buddha had said, were delighted and put it into practice.
Samyukta Agama 297

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(The Discourse on Emptiness in its Ultimate Meaning)

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The Discourse on the Middle Way

I heard these words of the Buddha one time when the Lord was staying at the guest house in a forest of the district of Nala. At that time, the Venerable Kaccayana came to visit him and asked, The Tathagata has spoken of Right View. How would the Tathagata describe Right View? The Buddha told the venerable monk, People in the world tend to believe in one of two views: the view of being or the view of nonbeing. That is because they are bound to wrong perception. It is wrong perception that leads to the concepts of being and nonbeing. Kaccayana, most people are bound to the internal formations of discrimination and preference, grasping and attachment. Those who are not bound to the internal knots of grasping and attachment no longer imagine and cling to the idea of a self. They understand, for example, that suffering comes to be when conditions are favorable, and that it fades away when conditions are no longer favorable. They no longer have any doubts. Their understanding has not come to them through others; it is their own insight. This insight is called Right View, and this is the way the Tathagata would describe Right View. How is this so? When a person who has correct insight observes the coming to be of the world, the idea of nonbeing does not arise in her, and when she observes the fading away of the world, the idea of being does not arise in her mind. Kaccayana, viewing the world as being is an extreme; viewing it as nonbeing is another extreme. The Tathagata avoids these two extremes and teaches the Dharma dwelling in the Middle Way. The Middle Way says that this is, because that is; this is not, because that is not. Because there is ignorance, there are formations; because there are formations, there is consciousness; because there is consciousness, there is the psyche-soma; because there is the psyche-soma, there are the six senses; because there are the six senses, there is contact; because there is contact, there is feeling; because there is feeling, there is craving; because there is craving, there is grasping; because there is grasping, there is becoming; because there is becoming, there is birth; because

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there is birth, there are old age, death, grief, and sorrow. That is how this entire mass of suffering arises. But with the fading away of ignorance, formations cease; with the fading away of formations, consciousness ceases; ... and finally birth, old age, death, grief, and sorrow will fade away. That is how this entire mass of suffering ceases. After listening to the Buddha, the Venerable Kaccayana was enlightened and liberated from sorrow. He was able to untie all of his internal knots and attain Arhatship.
Samyukta Agama 301

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(The Discourse on the Middle Way)

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19

The Discourse on the Emptiness of Compounded Things

Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying at Jetavana, Anthapindikas park at rvast. .. The Buddha said to the monks: ...Monks, just as two hands coming together produce a sound, so, conditioned by eye and visible forms arises eye consciousness, and when these three things come together contact arises. From contact arises feeling, perception, and volition. All these phenomena are devoid of a self, they are impermanent. They are a kind of impermanent self, a self that is not eternal, not stable and always changing. Why is this so? Monks, because they have the nature of birth, aging, death, ceasing, and rebirth. Monks, all compounded things are as an illusion, a flame, ceasing in an instant; their nature is not true coming and true going. Therefore, monks, with regard to all empty compounded things you should know, rejoice in, and be mindful of (awake to) this: All empty compounded things are empty of [any] permanent, eternal, lasting, unchanging nature; [they are] empty of self and of what belongs to self. So also for the ear, nose, tongue, body, conditioned by mind and its mindobject arises mental consciousness, and these three together are contact. From contact arise feeling, perception, and volition. All these dharmas (phenomena) are devoid of a self, they are impermanent, empty of self and of what belongs to self.
Samyukta Agama 273

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(The Discourse on the Emptiness of Compounded Things)

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The Discourse on the Adaptation of Conditioned Genesis Connected with Emptiness

Thus have I heard. Once the Buddha was staying in Kalandakas bamboo grove at Rjagrha. . Then, the World-Honored One (the Buddha) said to a monk coming from another tradition, I have transcended doubt, got away from uncertainty, dug out the thicket of evil views, and will turn back no more. Since the mind has nothing to which to attach, where could there be a self ? The Buddha offers the Dharma, offers the teaching on the adaptation of conditioned genesis connected with emptiness, a holy and supramundane truth. That is to say: Because this is, that is; because this is, that arises. That is to say: Conditioned ignorance, formations arise; conditioned by formations, consciousness arises; conditioned by consciousness, name and material form arise; conditioned by name and material form, the six sense-spheres arise; conditioned by the six sense-spheres, [sensorial and mental] contact arises; conditioned by contact, feeling arises; conditioned by feeling, craving arises; conditioned by craving, attachment arises; conditioned by attachment, becoming arises; conditioned by becoming, birth arises;

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conditioned by birth arises the suffering of aging, death, sorrow and affliction. Thus is the origin of this whole mass of suffering. And in the same way is the cessation of this whole mass of suffering. He taught like that, but the monk still had doubt and uncertainty. He could not at first gain the perception that is to be gained, obtain the perception that is to be obtained, achieve the perception that is to be achieved. The Buddha then asked the monk, Why does someone after having listened to this dharma, find that sorrow, regret, loss and obstacles arise in his mind? Profound indeed is this, namely conditioned genesis; even more profound, more difficult to see is this, namely the extinction of all attachment, the destruction of craving, the fading away of desire, the cessation of all suffering: nirvna. . These two dharmas are namely the compounded and the uncompounded. The compounded is arising, persisting, changing, passing away. The uncompounded is not arising, not persisting, not changing, not passing away. Monks, this is to say: All formations [compounded things] are suffering, and nirvna is the cessation of all suffering. . When the causes of suffering are there, suffering arises; when the causes cease, suffering ceases. All routes are cut off, all continuums cease. The cessation of the continuums is called the ending of suffering. O monks! What is it that ceases? It is any remaining suffering. When this ceases, there is coolness, tranquility, namely the extinction of all attachment, the destruction of craving, the fading away of desire, the cessation of all suffering, nirvna. . When the Buddha had finished this discourse, all the monks, having heard what the Buddha said, were delighted and put it into practice.
Samyukta Agama 293

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(The Discourse on the Adaptation of Conditioned Genesis Connected with Emptiness)

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The Paramrtha Gths of Asaga Gathas on the Absolute Truth

1. svm na vidyate kacin na kart npi vedaka dharm sarve pi nice atha ced vartate kriy There is absolutely no subject, no agent and no one who enjoys the fruit of action (no one who feels). No dharma (phenomenon, object of mind) has any function. Nonetheless the passing on of one effect to another does take place.

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2. dvdaaiva bhavgni skandhyatanadhtava vicintya sarvny etni pudgalo nopalabhyate There are only the 12 limbs of existence, the aggregates, the realms (ayatanas) and the worlds (dhatus) that are always changing. When we observe thoroughly and contemplate these things we shall not find a separate self anywhere.

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3. nyam dhytmika sarva nya sarva bahirgatam na vidyate so pi kacid yo bhvayati nyatm Both within us and outside of us everything is empty of a self and the person who practices meditation on emptiness is herself empty.

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 , ,
4. tmaiva hy tmano nsti vipartena kalpyate naiveha sattva tm v dharms tv ete sahetuk Both the self and the elements that give rise to the self are empty. They are just constructions of our perverted (confused) mind. The separate-self nature of all the sentient species is also empty. The only thing that is, is the causing and conditioning of one dharma upon another.

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5. kaik sarvasaskr asthitn kuta kriy bhtir ye kriysau ca kraka saiva cocyate All conditioned things undergo change at every instant. Their abiding is not something real, much less their function. All we can say is that their arising is their function and their arising is also the agent.

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6-7. caku payati no rpa rotra abda oti na ghra jighrati no gandh jihv nsvdayed rasm kya spati no spar mano dharmn na kalpayet nsti caim adhiht prerako vidyate na ca Eyes cannot see form, ears cannot hear sound, the nose does not smell scent, the tongue does not taste an object, the body does not feel touch, the mind does not recognize objects of mind. However in the organs and objects of sense there is no one who maintains or begins the perception.

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8. na paro janayaty ena svaya naiva ca jyate prattya bhv jyante nipur nav nav That does not give rise to this. Nor do things give rise to themselves. Birth is due to conditions. Things are not old or new, but there is old and new all the same.

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9. na paro nayaty ena svaya npi ca nayati pratyaye sati jyante jt svarasabhagur That cannot put an end to this. This cannot put an end to itself. Birth takes place because of conditions and once birth has taken place there has to be death.

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10. pakadvaye nirit hi janat upalabhyate pramatt viayev eva mithy coccalit puna The arising of all phenomena takes place dependent on two categories of event: the losing oneself in the surroundings and material objects or the proliferation of wrong views.

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11. mohenpahts te vai mithy uccalits turye taypahts te tu pramatt viayeu ye Wrong views proliferate because of ignorance. Losing oneself in our surroundings or material (or human) objects happens because of craving.

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12. sahetukatvd dharm dukhasyeha tathaiva ca maula kleadvaya ktv dvdaago dvidh kta All things arise from causes as does the suffering of living beings. Because of the two basic illusions there is the division into twelve limbs of two kinds (some of which belong to cause and some to result).

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13. svayakt kriy naiva tath parakt na ca para kriy na krayati na ca nsti kriy puna The doing does not come from itself nor does it come from something else. The doing does not arise because of another lifetime. That does not mean that there is no doing.

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14. ndhytma na bahir v ca nntarle tayor api anutpanno hi saskra kadcid upalabhyate It is not inside, nor is it outside. It is not something between inside and outside. Before (samskaras) conditioned things have arisen it is not possible to grasp them (in terms of time and space).

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15. utpanno pi ca saskra tensau nopalabhyate angatam nirnimittam attam tu vikalpyate Moreover after conditioned things have arisen it is not possible to grasp them. The future does not have any sign (by which we can grasp it). The past can be an object of our discriminating mind (imagined).

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16. kalpyate nubhta (na) ca nnubhta ca kalpyate andimanta saskr di caivopalabhyate We are able to discriminate the things we have been in touch with, we can also discriminate the things we have not yet been in touch with. Although there is no beginning of samskaras, the discriminating mind can still use the concept of beginning.

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17-18. phenapiopama rpa vedan budbudopam marcisad saj saskr kadalnibh myopama ca vijnam uktam dityabandhun ekotpd ca saskr ekasthitinirodhina The physical body is like foam. Feelings are like bubbles on the surface of the water. The perceptions are like a magic city. The mental formations are like the stem of a banana tree. The consciousness is like a magic show. That is what the Buddha has taught.

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19. na moho mohayed moha para naiva ca mohayet na paro mohayety ena na ca moho na vidyate Ignorance does not make ignorance ignorant, nor does it make others ignorant. Another does not make ignorance ignorant. Nevertheless ignorance is not non-existent.

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20. ayoniomanaskrt samoho jyate sa ca ayoniomanaskro nsamhasya jyate

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Ignorance is born from inappropriate attention. Inappropriate attention arises in the ignorant person.

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21. puy apuy nijy saskrs trividh mata trividha cpi yat karma sarva etad asagatam Merit, lack of merit and immovability; these formations are imagined in a threefold way. All things have three kinds of karma and these karmas are not compatible with each other.

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22. prabhagur vartamn att na kvacit sthit ajt pratyaydhin citta cpy anuvartakam The present disintegrates immediately. The past does not remain anywhere. The unborn depends on conditions to be born. The mind evolves in accordance with the three times.

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23. atyantika saprayogo viprayogas tathaiva ca na ca sarvair hi sarvasya citta copagam ucyate In absolute terms there is association or disassociation. Whether mind is associated or not associated with all formations, it is said to evolve accordingly.

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24. tasmin srotasya vicchinne sadsade puna tmadyanusrea savti kriyate tv iyam In this stream there is no ending, no same and no different. Everything is in

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accord with the view of a separate self resulting from the relative truth and it is not inexistent.

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25. bhidyate rpakyas ca nmakyo pi nayati svayakto pabhoga ca paratreha nirucyate If our physical form is subject to destruction, then our psychological form is also subject to destruction; still it is said that in this life we lay down the cause and in the next life we enjoy the fruit.

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26. paurvparyea cnyatvt svahetuphalasagraht sa eva kart vett ca anyo veti na kathyate Because of the difference between previous and present life and because the cause is found in the effect, we do not say that the one who acts and the one who enjoys the fruit of the action are different from each other.

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27. hetuvartmnupacchedt smagry vartate kriy svasmd dheto ca jyante kurvanti ca parigraham Because the process of cause (and effect) is uninterrupted the process of action is due to completion. These two processes contain their own cause and also the object of the action.

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28. prapacbhirati hetu tath karma ubhubham sarvabjo vipka ca inia tath phala

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When the cause is the delight in the proliferation of ideas then there is action that is wholesome or unwholesome. With the ripening of all the seeds comes a desired or undesired fruit.

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29. sarvabjo vipko bhijyate tmadaranam pratytmavedanyo sau arp anidarana Relying on the ripening of seeds, the view of self arises. At that point there is a recognition of an inner knower which is formless and invisible.

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30. kalpayanty antartmna ta ca bl ajnak tmadaranam ritya tath bahvya ca daya Those who are childlike and unwise construe this as their inner self. Based on this view of self many wrong views arise.

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31. piagrhtmabjc ca prvbhyst sahyata ravad anuklc ca jyate tmadaranam Because of the grasping to the seeds a self, because of the accompanying habit energies of previous lifetimes, and because of what is learnt (in this lifetime) the view of a separate self is born.

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32. snehas tatpratyaya caiva adhytmam upajyate anugrahbhila ca bahi sneho mamyitam

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Helped by the conditions that belong to an inner self, attachment arises and because it embraces the impure habit energy, it craves an object outside itself.

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33. yato bibheti loko ya tan mohtma haraty asau prva niveana ktv tenopaiti prapacita What is to be feared in the world is that out of ignorance people grasp to things. In the beginning they make a store of craving and then give rise the proliferation of ideas.

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34. yat tan niveana kta tad ry dukhato vidu yena dukhit sad bl kaamtram upaamito na hi This making of the store of craving the noble ones know to be suffering. This suffering oppresses the foolish without ceasing even for an instant.

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35. vairpyaparigata citta cinoti dukha tathvidham yad citta bhavati blnm ahakrasukhadukhapratyayam The mind that is bound and does not have the wisdom of oneness is filled with suffering. The fool stores up the suffering, because of a mistaken attachment to the ideas of self, suffering and pleasure.

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36. yatra sakt sarvabli pake patati kujaro yath samohas tatra cdhika sarvatraga sarvaceite tatpara Fools are firmly stuck like an elephant that has fallen into a bog. Ignorance

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makes difficulties grow and grow all the time both for the action and the object of the action.

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37. sarvasrotas vinirbhedya yni loke srotsi viami naitad asty agnir na vyur na bhskaro tioayed anyatra dharmacaryay Streams of unbearable suffering in this world are flowing fiercely. No fire nor wind not even the sun can dry them up. Only practicing the right Dharma can do this.

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38. dukh dukhito ham asmty tmna sukhito v dukha vyavasyati parikalpo disamutthpaka sa tasmj jtas taj jnayaty api In the midst of suffering people can say: I am suffering, or I am happy. This kind pf mental construction concerning suffering gives rise to views (being caught in views). This view gives rise to that view and other views as well.

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39. sahotpannaniruddha hi kleai klia mana sad tasya nirmoko na bhto na bhaviyati As long as the defiled manas endures, the afflictions (kleshas) are born and come to an end in it. The liberation of manas does not happen before and it will not happen after the destruction of the afflictions.

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40. na tad utpadyate pacc chuddham anyatra jyate tac ca prvam asaklia kleebhyo muktam ucyate It is not after the liberation has arisen that different pure dharmas can arise. The liberation that was there before was not defiled and that is why we can say it is liberated from the afflictions.

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41. yat klia tad ihtyantc chuddham prakibhsvara na ceha udhyate kacit kutacid vpi udhyati All things that have been defiled have purity as their true nature. Because if there is not the object that is purified, how can there be the subject that purifies?

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42. sarvabjasamutsdt sarva kleaparikyayt tatraiva cpy asakled dvidhbhinna pradaritam When the seeds are destroyed the afflictions cease. So in this case there is the non-defilement. From this appear two different things [the cessation of suffering and the cessation of mental proliferation].

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43. pratytmavedantyatvd dukhamtraparikayt tathaiva niprapacatvt sarvath na prapacayet Because the object of realization is not outside the subject and because all kinds of suffering have ceased, and because all proliferations of ideas have ceased forever therefore everything is free from proliferation.

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44. pravhe pudgalkhy syd dharmasaj ca lakae na veha kacit sasart nirvty api na kacana Living beings is the name of a continuous stream and all phenomena as the object of perception are only signs. Therefore there is no real change of birth into death and death into birth and no person who realizes nirvana.

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The Yogacarabhumi-Shastra (Vol. 16) of Acarya Asanga

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51 Mental Formations

Sanskrit sarvatraga spara manaskra vedan saj cetana viniyata chanda adhimoka smri samdhi praj (mati) kuala raddha hr apatrpya alobha advea amoha vrya prarabdhi apramda

Vit 5 Tm S Bin-Hnh Xc Tc Th Thng T 5 Tm S Bit-Cnh Dc Thng gii Nim nh Tu 11 Tm S Thin Tn Tm Qu V tham V sn V si Cn Khinh an Bt phng dt

English 5 Universals Contact Attention Feeling Perception Volition 5 Particulars Intention Determination Mindfulness Concentration Insight 11 Wholesome Faith Inner shame Shame before others Absence of craving Absence of hatred Absence of ignorance Diligence, energy Tranquility, ease Vigilance, energy

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upek ahisa

Hnh x Bt hi S ng Lng Mai thm vo V y V u Kin T Bi H Khim Lc Thanh lng T ti 6 Cn-Bn-Phin-No Tham Sn Si Mn Nghi Kin 20 Ty-Phin-No (c chia lm ba phn) Tiu Ty (10) Phn Hn Ph No Tt

Equanimity Non harming Wholesome Mental Formations added by Thy Non fear Absence of anxiety Stability, solidity Loving kindness Compassion Joy Humility Happiness Feverlessness Freedom/sovereignty 6 Primary Unwholesome Craving, covetousness Hatred Ignorance, confusion Arrogance Doubt, suspicion Wrong view 20 Secondary Unwholesome 10 Minor Secondary Unwholesome Anger Resentment, enmity Concealment Maliciousness Jealousy

abhaya aoka sthira maitr karu mudita sagauravat sukha nirjvara vaika klea rga pratigha mha mna vicikitsa dri upaklea

krodha upanha mraka prada rya

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mtsarya my hya vihis mada

Xan Cung Sim Hi Kiu Trung Ty (2) V tm V qu i Ty (8) Tro c Hn trm Bt tn Gii i Phng dt Tht nim Tn lon Bt chnh tri S ng Lng Mai thm vo nhng phin no S hi Lo lng (hi hp) Tuyt vng 4 Tm S Bt-nh Hi Min Tm T

Selfishness, parsimony Deceitfulness, fraud Guile Desire to harm Mischievous exhuberance 2 Middle Secondary Unwholesome Lack of inner shame Lack of shame before others 8 Greater Secondary Unwholesome Restlessness Drowsiness Lack of faith, unbelief Laziness Negligence Forgetfulness Distraction Lack of discernment Unwholesome Mental Formations added by Thy Fear Anxiety Despair 4 Indeterminate Regret, repentance Sleepiness Initial thought Sustained thought

ahr anapatrpya

auddhatya styna raddhya kausdya pramda muitasmrtit vikepa asaprajanya

bhaya oka viada kauktya middha vitarka vicra aniyata

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The Thirty Verses of Vasubandhu Triikvijaptikrik

1. tmadharmopacro hi vividho ya pravartate | vijnaparime sau parima sa ca tridh || The metaphors of self and dharmas, which function in so many different ways, take place in the transformation of consciousness. This transformation is of three kinds:

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2. vipko manankhyaca vijaptirviayasya ca | tatrlaykhya vijna vipka sarvabjakam || Maturation, mentation, and the perception of sense-objects. Among these, maturation is the consciousness called store, which has all the seeds.

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3. asaviditakopdisthnavijaptika ca tat | sad sparamanaskravitsajcetannvitam || Its appropriations and its manifestation of locality cannot be known. It is always associated with contact, mental attention, feeling, perception, and volition.

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 , ,
4. upek vedan tatrnivtvykta ca tat | tath spardayastacca vartate srotasaughavat || Its appropriations and its manifestation of locality cannot be known. It is always associated with contact, mental attention, feeling, perception, and volition.

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5. tasya vyvttirarhatve tadritya pravartate | tadlamba manonma vijna manantmakam || Its release takes place at the state of an arhat. Dependent on it and having it as an object is the consciousness named manas, its nature being mentation.

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6. kleaicaturbhi sahita nivtvyktai sad | tmadytmamohtmamntmasnehasajitai || Manas is always conjoined with the four passions, veiled but indeterminate, known as self-view, self- confusion, self-pride, and self-love.

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7. yatrajastanmayairanyai spardyaicrhato na tat | na nirodhasampattau mrge lokottare na ca || It arises wherever the other arises, and it arises along with contact and the rest. In the state of arhatship, the attainment of cessation, or on the supramundane path it no longer exists.

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8. dvitya parimo ya ttya avidhasya y | viayasyopalabdhi s kualkualdvay || That is the second transformation. The third is the perception of the sixfold sense-objects. It is beneficial, unbeneficial, or neither.

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9. sarvatragairviniyatai kualaicaitasairasau | saprayukt tath kleairupakleaistrivedan || It is always associated with the universals, the determined, the beneficials, as well as with the afflictions and the secondary afflictions. Its feelings are of three kinds.

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10. dy spardayachanddhimokasmtaya saha | samdhidhbhy niyat raddhtha hrrapatrap || The universals are contact, etc. The determined are zest, confidence, memory, concentration, and insight. The beneficials are faith, dignity, shame,

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11. alobhdi traya vrya prarabdhi spramdik | ahis kual kle rgapratighamhaya || absence of greed and absence of the two others, vigour, ease, carefulness, and non-harming. The afflictions are craving, aversion, confusion,

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12. mnadgvicikitsca krodhopanahane puna | mraka prada rytha mtsarya saha myay ||

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pride, views, and doubt. The secondary afflictions are anger, malice, hypocrisy, cruelty of speech, envy, selfishness, deceitfulness,

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13. hya mado vihishrratrap stynamuddhava | raddhyamatha kausdya pramdo muit smti || guile, mischievous exhuberance, desire to harm, lack of shame, lack of dignity, mental fogginess, excitedness, lack of faith, sloth, carelessness, loss of mindfulness,

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14. vikepo saprajanya ca kauktya middhameva ca | vitarkaca vicracetyupakle dvaye dvidh || distraction, and lack of recognition. The four which can be beneficial or unbeneficial are: regret and torpor, initial mental application and subsequent discursive thought.

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15. pacn mlavijne yathpratyayamudbhava | vijnn saha na v tarag yath jale || In the root consciousness, the five perceptions arise according to conditions, either singly or together, like waves on water.

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16. manovijnasabhti sarvadsajikdte | sampattidvaynmiddhnmrchandapyacittakt || The manovijnana functions always, except in the twofold samapatti (non-

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perception and cessation), in sleep, in fainting, and in the state where the mind stops.

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17. vijnaparimo ya vikalpo yadvikalpyate | tena tannsti teneda sarva vijaptimtrakam || The transformation of consciousness is mere construction. What is constructed does not have real existence. So everything is mere manifestation.

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18. sarvabja hi vijna parimastath tath | ytyanyonyavad yena vikalpa sa sa jyate || Consciousness is the totality of the seeds. Transformation takes place in the way it does because of a reciprocal influence; out of this, the different constructions arise.

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19. karmao vsan grhadvayavsanay saha | ke prvavipke nyadvipka janayanti tat || The habit-energy of actions, with the habit-energy of dual-grasping, give rise to another maturation, when the former maturation has been exhausted.

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20. yena yena vikalpena yadyad vastu vikalpyate | parikalpita evsau svabhvo na sa vidyate || Whatever range of events is constructed by whatever construction, it is not like it appears to be. It is not that. It is only a construction.

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 , ,
21. paratantrasvabhvastu vikalpa pratyayodbhava | nipannastasya prvea sad rahitat tu y || The nature of the interdependent is born from the discernment of conditions. The absolute is the state when the interdependent is separated forever from the constructed.

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22. ata eva sa naivnyo nnanya paratantrata | anityatdivad vcyo nde smin sa dyate || Therefore it is neither different nor non-different from the interdependent, just like impermanence, etc. When the one is not seen the other is not.

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23. trividhasya svabhvasya trividh nisvabhvatm | sadhya sarvadharm deit nisvabhvat || The non-nature of dharmas has been taught only in connection with the three non-natures of the three natures.

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24. prathamo lakaenaiva nisvabhvo para puna | na svaya bhva etasyetyapar nisvabhvat || The first is a non-nature because of its own character. The second is a nonnature because it does not exist by itself. The third is without its own nature, because . . .

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 ,
25. dharm paramrthaca sa yatastathatpi sa | sarvakla tathbhvt saiva vijaptimtrat || . . . it is the ultimate truth of all dharmas; it is also suchness. Since things are just as they are, that is why it is mere manifestation.

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26. yvadvijaptimtratve vijna nvatihati | grhadvayasynuayastvanna vinivartate || As long as consciousness does not dwell within the nature of mere manifestation, the residues of dual-grasping cannot come to an end.

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27. vijaptimtramevedamityapi hyupalambhata | sthpayannagrata kicit tanmtre nvatihate || Although there may be the perception: All this is mere manifestation, because this still involves an object of perception in front of it, it does not yet really dwell in merely-that.

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28. yadlambana vijna naivopalabhate tad | sthita vijnamtratve grhybhve tadagraht || But when mind no longer grasps an object of consciousness, it will stop at mere consciousness. For without any object to grasp, there is no longer any grasping.

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28. yadlambana vijna naivopalabhate tad | sthita vijnamtratve grhybhve tadagraht || But when mind no longer grasps an object of consciousness, it will stop at mere consciousness. For without any object to grasp, there is no longer any grasping.

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29. acitto nupalambho sau jna lokottara ca tat | rayasya parvttirdvidh dauhulyahnita || It is without discrimination and without attainment, that the supramundane wisdom (operates.) When the double incapacity is abandoned, transformation at the base is realized.

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30. sa evnsravo dhturacintya kualo dhruva | sukho vimuktikyo sau dharmkhyo ya mahmune || It is the realm of non-setback, inconceivable, beneficial, stable, bliss, the body of liberation, called the Dharma of the Great Sage.

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Enjoyment of What Is Beyond Time and Space

1. Patience is the best way to protect oneself, Nirvana is what the Buddha has praised as the highest and the best. When you lay aside the worldly life, practice the celibate life, keep the precepts, calm and pacify your mind and your thoughts, then nothing can invade you from without.

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2. Good health is the greatest advantage. Satisfaction is the greatest of riches. Loyalty is your best friend. Extreme happiness is Nirvana.

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3. Hunger is the affliction most difficult to bear, The mental formations are what bring about the greatest suffering. Keep looking into things as they are in order to have the understanding That nirvana is the greatest enjoyment of happiness..

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4. In the world few people are on the wholesome path . Those on an unwholesome path are many.

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Keep looking into the four noble truths in order to have the understanding That nirvana is the most secure abode.

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5. You are born in the realms of the gods because of wholesome deeds. You fall into the lower realms because of unwholesome deeds. Nirvana is also due to a cause; It is experienced because you have practiced the path

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6. The deer take refuge in the forests. The birds in the clouds of the sky. The manifestation of phenomena depends on the discriminating mind, Those who practice the truth depend on nirvana to live in freedom.

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7. When there is insight into no beginning and no non-beginning, Into no being and no non-being, That is the non-attainment, Which cannot be conceptualized..

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8. The mind is difficult to see, but habit energies can be recognized, Someone who can recognize a craving mind and can see fully that It is not possible to find joy in sensual pleasure, can avoid all kinds of suffering, For passion always makes suffering increase.

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 ,
9. When the mind is clear, you do not allow it to be tainted, Once this purification has taken place, you can master all craving thoughts. At that point you no longer have to come in touch with a world of suffering Even though your eyes see, your ears hear, and your mind remembers and knows.

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10. Once you let go of all ideas you can enter that world Where you attain non-attachment and non-discrimination. You will transcend all ideas of a separate self, And master all mental formations that cause suffering, You will end completely the habit energy of discriminatory perception. Then there can be no more suffering.

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11. In a disruptive environment, when you can keep your mind light and at ease, You will remain still. When the mind is disturbed, you cannot be close to nirvana, you cannot have peace and joy. When ideas about suffering and happiness have been transcended then there is the true silence. When ideas about the true silence have been transcended there is no more need for coming and going.

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12. When there is no more coming and going, birth and death end also. With the ending of birth and death, how can there be discrimination between this and that? The idea of this as well as the idea of that have ended.

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This absolute silencing of ideas is the absence of a world of suffering.

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13. O monks, in the world there is the born, the becoming, the made and the compounded, But there is also the not born, the non-becoming, the not made and the not compounded For these are the way out of the born, the becoming, the made and the compounded.

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14. Only when you have attained non-ideation Can you arrive at nirvana. Once there is no birth there is no more becoming. Then there is no more doing, no more formation.

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15. As long as you perceive birth, becoming, doing and formation as real, You have not yet arrived at the essence. If you can understand the nature of no-birth You will not perceive becoming and will have no need to do and to create formations.

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16. Because there is becoming there has to be birth And because there is birth, becoming continues. When there is doing and formations there is death and rebirth. This is the opening of the door of birth and death, leading to the arising of all phenomena.

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 , ,
17. Everything subsists because of food.. Even happiness and sadness need food to survive. If the essential nourishment is not there, There are no more traces of formations for you to discern.

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18. When suffering ends and there are no more formations Happiness will be there very silently and there will be peace. The bhikshu will know himself who he is And will not need to go in search of any particular realm.

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19. There is no going to the realm of empty space. There is not a place that we need to enter. There is no going to the realm of no perceptions and no no-perception. There is no going towards this life or the next life.

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20. There are not perceptions and ideas about the sun and the moon. There is no going and no staying behind. There is no separate self that can go and come back. So there is no going and coming back.

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21. In the place where the ideas of is no more or is still having the ground for rebirth do not arise,

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In that place there is nirvana. Then, whether there is an object of perception or no object of perception, You have thoroughly understood the ground of suffering and happiness.

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22. We no longer fear the things that we see. We have no more doubt about things that can or cannot be expressed.. Once the arrow has been shot it fells the ideas of being and non-being On encountering someone who does not understand, you do not feel you have to explain.

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23. That is the foremost kind of bliss. This path of extinction is the highest. At this point we have the capacity of inclusiveness, our mind is like the earth And the practice of inclusiveness is like a citadel.

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24. Your mind is pure as clear water, without a drop of impurity. The substratum of the cycle of birth and death is no longer present, we do not undergo the world of bondage, Winning and profit are no longer criteria for us to follow, Because victory and profit are always accompanied by suffering.

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25. You should look for the kind of victory and profit that comes from the practice of the Dharma. Once there is the victory of the Dharma, there is the not born.

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Once there is not born there is no more doing. If you want to put an end to the cycle of birth and death keep within the bounds of propriety.

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26. Once a seed has been burnt, it cannot give rise to life. Once your thinking has stopped, it is like the fire has been put out. The place of sexual misconduct is a polluted ocean. Why look for pleasure in a place like that?

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27. Although there are the realms of the gods above, They have nothing to compare with nirvana. When you have the understanding of all things, you end all afflictions. You are no longer attached to the world.

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28. Letting go of everything and crossing to the shore of extinction, Is the most beautiful of all paths. The Buddha has explained the practice of the truth.. Someone who is wise and brave can do that practice.

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29. Living the life of chastity without any blemish, One knows oneself, transcends time and space, realizes peace and stability. When embarking on the path of practice the first thing is to leave sexual desire behind. One should adorn oneself with the practice of the precepts right away.

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30. Ending the afflictions, leaving the world of bondage behind As easily as a bird spreads its wings and flies up into the sky. If you understand this verse of the Dharma, You should put your whole heart into going forward on the path of practice.

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31. This is the path that goes to the shore of no-birth and no-death, Goes towards the end of suffering and calamity. On the spiritual path there is no longer the discrimination between near and far. You do not need to concern yourself with who has worldly power and who has not.

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32. The most important is not to be caught in perceptions. When the being bound and being unbound are both pure Then the person of high understanding is no longer attached to this body, subject to disintegration, And sees that it is something without a firm ground in reality.

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33. This body brings with it the suffering of bondage and very little peace and joy. Among all the nine orifices, there is none that is clean. The wise person who knows how to avoid danger and maintain peace Puts an end to boasting, puts down the burden of misfortunes.

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34. Once this body has disintegrated, it will turn into dust. Someone who is wise knows how to let go and not be attached to it. Looking deeply to see that this body is a tool that brings with it many fetters, Birth, old age, sickness and death will not longer cause you to suffer.

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35. Letting go of the impure and traveling on the path of purity, You have the chance to arrive at great peace and stillness. Relying on awakening, laying aside wrong views And not taking them up again you arrive at the dissolution of the ashravas.

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36. Living in purity, transcending time and space, You are revered by both men and gods.

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Letter to a Young Scientist

Understanding and Love As a scientist, you have a need to discover. I, too, as a meditator, have a need to discover. Which is why Id like to write you a letter. I feel that to discover is one of the great needs of humankind. It is the need to understand. To understand and to love are two fundamental human needs. And only if we satisfy both needs can we be happy. Understanding has some kind of connection with love, and I believe this is something you may also have perceived. Understandingeven scientific understandingcan take us in the direction of love. I see that where there is understanding, there can be love; but where there is no understanding, there cannot be love. And if there is love, then there must already be understanding, and that understanding will continue to grow. Understanding and love are two faces of one reality, like the heads and tails of a coin, or the wave and particle forms of an electron. I call you a young scientist because you have within you this deep desire to make a discovery. To discover is first of all to satisfy the need to understand. And if you discover something truly new then you will become famous, and your name, perhaps associated with a theory or an equation, will go down in the history of science. The distant dream of becoming a famous scientist can give you a huge amount of energy to work. You can sit hour after hour in the laboratory, not thinking about eating or drinking or going out, your entire mind absorbed in your research. This passion for your research can give you a lot of energy, but it can also make you tired and prevent you from being in touch with the wonders of daily life, in you and around you. I address you as a young scientist because you also have the capacity to release your views, to let go of the knowledge you have accumulated, so as to be more

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objective in your research and in the presentation of your work. In principle, a scientist is supposed to be objective, but you know that in scientific circles there are many people who describe themselves as objective, who actually continue to observe and present things from their own subjective point of view. In religion, especially in Buddhism, we are taught to let go of what we already know so that we can go further in our search for the truth. We have to let go of the knowledge we have acquired during the process of learning and discovery. If we believe that the knowledge we presently possess is the absolute truth then we lose our objectivity, and we are no longer able to get in touch with any deeper truth, because our knowledge has become an obstacle. This is called knowledge as an obstacle (jneya avarana in Sanskrit). Both scientists and yogis must have the capacity to let go of knowledge that has become an obstacle. In the Sutra of One Hundred Parables, the Buddha tells the story of a boy who was kidnapped by robbers who raided and set fire to his village. The boys father was away on business at the time. When he came home he saw his house had been burned to the ground. Lying nearby he saw the charred remains of a young boy. He believed right away that this was the corpse of his son. He tore his hair and beat his chest, blaming himself for having failed in his responsibility as a father. After the cremation ceremony he put the ashes of his son in a specially made silk bag, which he kept with him wherever he went, even when he was eating, sleeping or working. One night, after waking from a dream about his son, he was unable to get back to sleep. He wept and moaned, overcome by regret, unable to calm himself down. In that moment, he heard a knock on the door. His son had been lucky enough to escape from the hands of his captors and find his way home. He was standing in front of the newly built house, believing that this must be his fathers new house, knocking on the door and calling out. But his father refused to open the door. The boy called out again and again, Father, father, open the door! Its me, open the door! But because he was absolutely sure that his son was already dead, and still clutching the silk bag tightly against his chest, he assumed that the boy at the door must be a young rascal who was just playing a nasty trick on him, to disturb him and stop him from sleeping. The boy called out again and again but eventually decided that this must not be his house after all. He went away, and from that moment on, father and son never met again. Concluding the allegory, the Buddha explained that if we believe something to be the absolute truth then we will be caught in that belief and we will get stuck in our search for the truth. That is why all scientists, as well as all yogis, have to train themselves to let go of what they know. The spirit of science is the spirit of objectivity, not caught in subjective views or perceptions. If a yogi is able to do this

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then he or she also has the spirit of a scientist. If a scientist is not able to do this then he or she cannot be a true scientist. In religious communities, progressives are in a very small minority and are often criticized or discriminated against. But its not necessarily true that in scientific circles everyone is a progressive. The majority of scientists tend to be conservative: they are afraid that new discoveries will bring their conceptual structures crashing down. They lean on whatever they hold to be true in order to discover more. If this foundation were to collapse, they would have to start again from nothing; and so the conservative tendency is always there. Knowledge must be built on the firm foundation of the fundamental laws, concepts and constants. And yet we know that in the history of science these fundamental notions have crumbled many times. In the book Discours de la Mthode, even Descartes says about the sciences that, since they borrow their principles from philosophy, nothing solid could be built on foundations so infirm. In Buddhism the fundamental doctrines of impermanence, non-self, emptiness, interbeing, dependent co-arising, and so on, are used as tools to help practitioners let go of their ideas about permanence, self, being, non-being, cause and effect. But practitioners are also instructed to transcend and let go of the converse notions of impermanence, non-self, emptiness, interbeing, and dependent co-arising, so as not to be caught by them either. This is exactly the spirit of the destruction of clinging to ideas: that no notion can be used as a foundation for insight, not even the notions of nirvana, liberation, or enlightenment. Thats why one often hears the phrases: Look for Nirvana in birth and death. The afflictions (klesha in Sanskrit) are the awakening. Buddha and living beings are one, etc... Knowledgethat which we knowis an obstacle, a barrier that prevents us from going ahead. Not only yogis but also scientists must release it. Just as a yogi can be influenced by the doctrines of their particular sect, by the views of their teachers or spiritual guides, and can be caught in what they have learned in the scriptures, including notions regarding nirvana, birth and death, the pure land and the mundane world, and so on, then so too can a scientist be influenced by their particular school of thought, by what they have learned during their training at university, by the models and theories they have heard about and studied. Yet the concepts, models, and theories that we hold on to could in fact be the biggest obstacles to the furtherance of our research. Even great scientists like Einstein were sometimes influenced by their metaphysical prejudices. It was because he was caught in the idea of realism, that Einstein could not accept the probabilistic description of the atom and of subatomic particles revealed by

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quantum mechanics. This is why, in order to succeed, both yogis and scientists must cultivate the capacity to let go of what they already know. Yogis know they must not get caught in concepts, even the most fundamental concepts such as, everything has Buddha nature. In order to help one student break free of this notion, Zen Master Zhaozhou1 said, a dog does not have Buddha nature apparently in contradiction with the Buddhist teaching that all living and nonliving things do have Buddha nature. But the Zen Masters intention was not to transmit or to confirm any particular notion, but to help his student be liberated from his notion. As long as someone is trapped in a concept or notion they cannot be free, even if it is the concept of God or the Ultimate Reality. Afflictions as an Obstacle Knowledge is only the first obstacle. The second obstacle is our own suffering. States of mind (known as mental formations in Buddhist psychology) such as confusion, hatred, anxiety, craving, the desire for vengeance, and so on, are collectively known as afflictions as an obstacle. They are like the dust covering a mirror and preventing it from faithfully reflecting reality. For scientists, instruments such as mathematical techniques, telescopes, microscopes, measuring devices, particle accelerators, and so on, are absolutely necessary for the work of research. While for a yogi, the mind is practically their only instrument. If our mind is burdened by worry or suffering, by views, confusion and anger, then it is very hard for us to practice mindfulness, concentration and insight in order to realise the path and look deeply into ourselves and into reality. In fact, behind all sophisticated mechanical instruments, the scientists mind is still the fundamental instrument. Our mind must be free from views and preconceptions, and free from afflictions. If scientists know how to build, maintain and keep their instruments perfectly clean, then they should also know how to handle and transform the suffering that comes from grief and frustration since the mind is the fundamental instrument that stands behind all other instruments. Releasing views, knowledge and afflictions not only helps scientists be more successful in their careers of research and invention, but also helps them to have more happiness and freedom, and establish good relationships with their families, their friends and the world. Intuition Our mind is not just the intellectour mind is also composed of the unconscious and the subconscious, as well as our sensibility, the feeling of wonder, of awe, and the capacity for intuition. Scientists dont usually make their
1

Chinese Zen master (b.778, d.897)

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breakthroughs in the laboratory or while thinking about their research; so their breakthroughs dont occur while scientists are using their intellect. Breakthroughs are the product of intuition, not deduction. Deduction and the intellect can serve to check the insights offered by our intuition, but they do not bring about those insights. Yogis can see this point very clearly. Sudden enlightenment does not arise by thinking but by intuition. In the Zen tradition, intuition depends to a great extent on practice, the practice of sowing the seed of a question in the unconscious (known in Buddhist psychology as the store consciousness). All we have to do is to maintain our confidence in the capacity of store consciousness. It is just like entrusting a seed to the earth and then watering it regularly. Whilst eating, drinking, lying down, sitting or working, a practitioner maintains this confidence, aware that the seed has been entrusted to store consciousness, knowing that there is no need for thinking or reasoning. This is called mindfulness and concentration. To be mindful is to recognise and to be aware. To concentrate means to maintain this recognition and awareness. This recognition and awareness does not require thought. Its like watching the sunset: all we need to do is remember that the scene is beautiful and we are perfectly present for the sunset, without any need to think or compare. Concentration is maintaining this awareness so it can last for a long time. Mindfulness and concentration will help to ripen the seed planted in store consciousness, and one morning, that seed will suddenly bud and blossom. This is known as insight arising from intuition. Double Grasping Our discriminative mind can also be an obstacle. For example, we consider our mind and the real world that we seek to understand to be two distinct entities that can exist separately from each other. This is the problem of the subject and object of perception. Neuroscientists like to pose the question: How is it that the objective computational activities of the neurons produce our subjective consciousness? A large number of scientists still believe in an objective reality that exists outside of our consciousness, and that continues to exist whether we are conscious of it or not. Since time immemorial philosophers have been asking whether or not there is an objective reality that exists independently of our consciousness. In the 18th Century David Hume said Although we have no ground for believing in an objective reality, we have also no choice but to act as if it is true. A large proportion of us still believe that there is some kind of subjective consciousness in here reaching out to an objective world of reality out there. This discrimination, according to Buddhism, is the greatest obstacle that stands in the

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way of enlightenment. Such discriminative thinking, where the mind is caught in the idea of the subject of consciousness and the object of consciousness as two separate realities existing apart from each other, is called dual grasping (dvayagraha in Sanskrit). Yogis, especially Buddhists, are carefully trained to deal with this problem. They are trained to see that the object of consciousness and the subject of consciousness depend on each other and arise at the same time. Subject and object of consciousness do not arise one after the other, nor do they exist independently of each other. In every school of Buddhism, the constituents of the material world, including the body with its five sense organs, as well as feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness, are considered to be objects of mind consciousness (dharmas). The object of mind consciousness manifests in the same moment as mind consciousness. Subject and object of consciousness rely on each other and manifest togetherthey exist for one kshana (Sanskrit term denoting the shortest instant of time) and form the foundation for the birth of consciousness in the following kshana. This is known as the principle of co-arising (sahajata), or co-being (sahabhu)depending on each other but arising together: if this is not, then that is not. Sahabhu can also be translated as interbeing. This can be compared to the scientific concepts of superposition or entanglement. In Buddhism, nothing can have a separate existencethis is because that is. This is inside of that, but we still think that this is outside of that. In fact, everything belongs to a tightly interwoven net. If one thing is present then everything is present; if one thing is absent then everything is absent. A renowned Vietnamese Zen Master of the 12th Century, called o Hnh, expressed this when he said If one thing exists, then everything exists. If even just one thing does not exist, then the whole universe does not exist. The Buddhist view is that nothing has a separate self-nature: there is no self and there are no separately existing phenomena. This is the insight of no self and no dharma. Everything depends on everything else to exist. Subject and object of consciousness behave in the same way; like the two sides, left and right, of a piece of paperthey depend on each other to be there. If there is no left there can be no right, if there is no right there can be no left. That is why separating subject and object of consciousness is a fundamental error. In the school of philosophy known as phenomenology there is the principle that Consciousness is always consciousness of something (conscience est toujours conscience de quelque chose). Our consciousness is not something standing outside of, or independent of, the object of consciousness. Many scientists have already glimpsed this point, saying that a scientist should be a participant rather than an observer.

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For example, if we look at the Earth as just a block of matter lying outside of us, then we have not yet truly seen the Earth. We have to see that we are a part of the Earth, and the entire Earth is in us. We have to see that we are Mother Earth and that Mother Earth is us. The biologist Lewis Thomas looked deeply into the Earth and saw that Mother Earth is an organism, a cell in the body of the cosmos. Thats why he called his book The Lives of a Cellcell here means Mother Earth. When we see the Earth as a living being we can overcome the idea that the Earth is just matter. The life of a living being includes spirituality and consciousness. When we refer to the Earth as Mother Earth, we see the Earth no longer as merely a block of matter, but as a wondrous mother who has given birth to countless living species, one of which is the human raceas well as many saints, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. To look at the Earth in this way is to look with all of our sensibility and respect, and with the feeling of wonder and love; we shouldnt look only with our intellect. When we look in this way we feel deeply connectedthe boundary between subject and object melts away, and our intuitive vision can arise. In this way we can free ourselves from the trap of double grasping, from the habit we have of thinking that subject and object of consciousness are two separate realities. Observation and Participation Einstein said that when he contemplated the beauty, harmony and mystery of the universe, a deep feeling of admiration and awe was born within him. This was the basis of what he called the cosmic religious feeling. Exactly this sensibility Einsteins feeling of admiration and subtle emotion at the beauty and orderliness of the cosmosafforded him the keen intuition which led to the discovery of the space-time continuum and the theories of special and general relativity. So if we look at the sun and only see hydrogen and helium, then the sun, for us, is just a lump of matter; yet for Saint Francis of Assisi, the sun was a brother (see his poem Canticle of the Sun), and for many Buddhists the sun is a Buddha of infinite light and limitless lifespan (Amitayus, Vairocana Tathagata). The mind that discriminates between subject and object, spirit and matter, self and other, is caught in double grasping and will have great difficulty in establishing the feeling and intuition needed to make a significant discovery or realise the path. We can speak about good science and bad science, as well as good Buddhism and bad Buddhism. Good Buddhism is a kind of Buddhism in which our actions of thought, of speech and of the body are all founded on right view. The Buddha was once asked by one of his disciples, Dear Buddha, you often teach about right view, but what exactly is right view? The Buddha answered that right view is the kind of view which is based on the insight of non-discrimination. When we know

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that the other person is in us, and we are in the other person; when we know that their suffering is our suffering, and our suffering is their suffering; that their happiness is our happiness, and our happiness is their happiness, then everything we think, say and do will go in the direction of healing and reconciliation, in the direction of true love. When everything we say, think and do is based on the insight of non-discrimination and interbeing, then that can be called good Buddhism. If as scientists we can release our dualistic views and discriminative thinking, then our minds will be able to penetrate deeply the object of our study, perhaps even overcoming the distinction between the observer and the observed. We may also then discover that science founded on the wisdom of non-discrimination is good science. In English we have the verb to comprehend which is composed of the prefix com, meaning with, and the verb prehendere, from Latin, via French, which means to grasp. If we truly want to understand, we have to become one with the object that we are seeking to understand. To grasp it and become one with itthat is the meaning of the verb to comprehend. We can imagine a grain of salt standing on the seashore, wondering how salty the ocean is. The only way for the grain of salt to find out is to jump into the ocean and become one with the seawater. In this kind of understanding we completely penetrate the object of study, and there is no more discrimination between subject and object, subjective and objective. The French expression, il faut tre dans sa peau pour le comprendre (you have to be in his skin to understand him), means the same thing. This is called the wisdom of non-discrimination in Buddhism (nirvikalpajnana)a kind of vision in which there is no longer any boundary between subject and object, and where we are free from comparison, free from the complexes of superiority, inferiority and equality. If we look at Mother Earth and we see that we are Mother Earth and Mother Earth is us then we can be liberated from our dualistic way of seeing, and overcome our fear of birth and death. Store Consciousness In the Zen tradition, practitioners know that the realisation of the path, or enlightenment, is a fruit offered to us by store consciousness, and is not the result of thinking. Store consciousness, sometimes known as root consciousness (mulavijnana), is the foundation of our mind consciousness. It has the functions of receiving, maintaining, and processing information, as well as the capacity to learn and to nourish the seeds of insight. The function of store consciousness is similar to that of a hard drive, yet with the difference that everything in store consciousness is constantly changing, just like a wave on the ocean, whereas the data

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stored in a hard drive is static and unchanging. This is why store consciousness is sometimes called the life-continuum (bhavangasrota). Mind consciousness simply plays the role of planting the seeds in store and diligently watering them with the energy of mindfulness and concentration. Mindfulness and concentration are not thinking, but merely being aware and recognizing, and maintaining this awareness and recognition. Yogis or practitioners choose to live in a suitable environment for this practice, called the sangha body. The collective energies of mindfulness and concentration available in the sangha are a great support for the practitioner. If scientists could also live in an environment capable of nourishing the energies of mindfulness and concentration, they would certainly succeed more easily in their search for the truth. In such an environment there are teachers, friends and co-practitioners, as well as many reminders to let go of the obstacles of our knowledge and our afflictions, so that our bodies and minds can be more peaceful as we patiently pursue our work of research. The tendency to see mind and matter as two separate entities, to see subject and object as two things that can exist outside of each other, is a very old habit that has been transmitted to us over many generations. This habit is so strong that it requires daily practice and training in order to release. The dualistic view of reality is known as double grasping. The Zen Master Tu Trung Thng S said: If we can release the dualistic view then reality will reveal itself to us in its entirety. Yogis and scientists, once they have been able to release this view, will be able to make a great leap forwards. After that, letting go of such deeply rooted ideas as being and non-being, or birth and death, will become relatively easy. No Birth, No Death Let us talk about the ideas of birth and death. The notions of birth and death arise from and are intimately connected to the notions of being and nonbeing. Many of us believe that to be born means that from nothing we become something; and that to die means that from something we become nothing again. Yet with the law of conservation of energy, scientists have discovered that energy has the nature of no-birth and no-death: energy cannot be created and cannot be destroyed; it can only be transferred. Matter also has the nature of no-birth and no-death, since matter is in fact a form of energy. When Lavoisier said Nothing is created, nothing is lost, everything is transformed, he made a statement which is very close to the Heart Sutra: All dharmas are marked with emptiness, they are neither produced nor destroyed. If every phenomena has the nature of no-birth and no-death, then we too have the nature of no-being and no non-being. If the

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notions of birth and death are overcome then the notions of being and non-being are also overcome. But many scientists are still caught in notions of being and nonbeing, which is why they ask, Where did all this come from? or Why is there something rather than nothing? In Buddhism the notion of being is defined very clearly: being implies the existence of an entity, a substance, a self-nature (svabhava). Practising Zen meditation we look deeply into phenomena, and we see that, in fact, nothing has a separate self, nothing has a separate existence, everything has no-self nature and everything arises from conditions. Everything is the reflection of an interconnected web of causes and conditions. In this way, nothing really exists. To stick to the idea of being is a mistake. To stick to the idea of non-being is also a mistake. The notions of being and non-being are not sufficient to describe reality. Reality cannot be said to exist, nor can it be said not to existwhether we are speaking of God, a cloud, or a pebble. A cloud has the nature of no-birth and no-death. A cloud does not come from nothing to suddenly become something; a cloud cannot pass from the realm of non-being into the realm of being. The clouds nature is not-born. Nor can a cloud die: nothing can pass from being into non-being. A cloud is like energyit is transformed endlessly and cannot die. A cloud can only become rain, or snow, or hail, but does not circulate in the sphere of birth and death. A cloud wanders freely in the realm of nirvana, in the realm of no birth and no death, no being and no non-being. Reasoning and Enlightenment When Antoine Laurent Lavoisier discovered the no-birth, no-death nature of matter, he had the opportunity to simultaneously discover his own no-being and no non-being nature, as a clear and logical consequence of his work. If this talented scientist had been able to maintain the insight of no being and no non-being in his daily life, then in the moment of climbing the scaffold to be guillotined (Lavoisier was executed in 1794), he would have been able to smilehe would have been liberated from the notions of birth and death, being and non-being. So let us speak about the difference here between insight and knowledge. Many people have an intellectual understanding, a knowledge, of the notions of impermanence, non-self, no birth and no death. They have faith in these principles and may be able to explain them clearly, rationally, and eloquentlyand yet they still live and act as if things are permanent, as if things have a separate self, are born and will die. There are scientists who believe that after death there is nothing, even though they simultaneously uphold the principle that nothing is created and nothing is destroyed, just as Lavoisier discovered and believed. An intellectual understanding

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of impermanence, non-self, no birth and no death is not sufficient to completely liberate us from fear, craving and hatred. Its only when we directly verify our intuition, maintaining it alive throughout our daily life, that we can get the insight which will truly liberate us. It is for this reason that in Buddhism we must practice mindfulness and concentration. Mindfulness (smrti) means to sustain our awareness. Concentration (samadhi) means to be able to maintain our insight. The practice of a monastic is to allow awakened wisdom to become the substance of daily life. Scientists have been able to release a number of superstitious beliefs that contradict the observations of sciencesuch as the beliefs in deities, ghosts and astrologythanks to a certain degree of mindfulness and concentration. But the discoveries of science are usually applied only to technology, and not to our daily emotional and spiritual lives. This is the difference between knowledge and insight, between the intellect and enlightenment. Beginnings and Endings The true nature of reality is the nature of no birth and no death, no being and no non-being, so why must we look for a beginning and an end? To begin is to be born, and to end is to die. The Big Bang theory is an attempt to explain the beginning of the universe. But does the universe need a beginning? Amongst all the phenomena of the universe we cannot find even one which has a beginning or an end. What is born must die; and so, if we speak of a Big Bang we also have to speak of a Big Crunch, we have to speak of becoming and of nothingness. Big Bang theorists posit that time and space began with the Big Bang. But according to them, the phenomenon of the Big Bang happened after the beginning of time, just after the beginning of the universe (10-35 seconds). Scientists have not yet been able to find a way to represent or imagine the beginning of time (time zero). Why dont we speak of the manifestation of this universe as the continuation of another universe, or of many universes, just as the manifestation of a cloud is the continuation of the water vapour, the heat, the sun, and many different rivers and streams? If this universe exists then perhaps other universes also exist. Isnt it true that there are scientists who have proposed that there are many universes manifesting in parallel to ours? Perhaps this universe is just a manifestation of the network of all universeswhy not? Two Kinds of Truth In Buddhism there is a form of contemplation known as penetrating the true nature by following the form (tng tng nhp tnh) which means to go from the phenomenal world into the noumenal world. If we contemplate very

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deeply the phenomenal world we will be able to come into contact with the noumenal world. To enter the noumenal we must let go of the ideas and mental models were accustomed to using to describe the phenomenal world. We have to use a kind of language which is more representational. To this end, Buddhism presents two types of truth: conventional truth (samvritisatya) and ultimate truth (paramarthasatya). For example, in the phenomenal world, we can use the notions of birth and death, being and non-being, coming and going, one and many, and so on, but when we start to approach reality as it is, then we have to let go of those notions. In Buddhism we call the noumenal world reality as it is, suchness, or nirvana. In the Udana (Inspired Sayings) the Buddha said, O monks, there is that which is not born, not brought to being, not made, not formed. If there were not that which is not born, not brought to being, not made, not formed, then no escape would be discerned from what is born, brought to being, made, formed. The not born, not made, not brought to being, and not formed is the noumenal world, the ultimate reality. The path of penetrating the true nature by following the form is a gradual path which can also be called the natural flowing together of dependent co-arising and emptiness, (sunyata pratisamyukta pratityasamutpada anulomata). It means that if we are skilful in using the notion and the wisdom of co-dependent arising to enter the ultimate dimension of Emptiness, then there will be no conflict or contradiction between the conventional and the absolute truth. Anulomata can be translated as adaptationand adaptation, here, means to use the notions and principles of dependent co-arising skilfully, without being caught by them. By starting just with the notion of dependent co-arising, we can touch no-birth; from the phenomenal, we can enter the noumenal. The conventional truth and the ultimate truth do not contradict each other and both kinds of truth can be useful according to the circumstances. There are sutras that speak of the conventional truth and there are sutras that speak of the ultimate truth. Both kinds of sutra can be useful according to the circumstances. To say that living beings and Buddha are different is correct, but to say that living beings and Buddha are not different is also correct. The first phrase describes the conventional truth and the second describes the ultimate truth. The early Buddhist teacher Nagarjuna, in the 2nd and 3rd Century CE, in his work Fundamental Verses of the Middle Way spoke about the no-birth nature of things in this way: Things do not give birth to themselves, nor are they born from another thing, nor are they born from both of these together, nor are they born spontaneously. Thus, the nature of all things is no-birth. If the nature of all things is no-birth then it is also no-death, no being and no non-being. In this way, we can go from the notion of conditioned arising towards the insight of no birth, no death.

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In science there are also two kinds of truth. The first kind of truth is represented by classical science, the science of Newton. This kind of science has confidence in an objective real world, existing outside of consciousness, in which each thing has a definite position in space and in time, has well-defined characteristics, and is completely independent of the observer. This kind of science is based on the philosophical schools of realism and determinism. Even Einstein, although he was able to let of of the idea of the point-mass or particle, continued to uphold a form of realism. He wrote, that which we conceive as existing (real) should somehow be localized in time and space. That is, the real in one part of space, A, should (in theory) somehow exist independently of that which is thought of as real in another part of space, B. In Buddhism, when we begin to observe the world of phenomena, we define things in a similar way. We say that things have to maintain their nature (their characteristics), long enough for us to form an idea about them and for us to recognise them. With the advent of modern science, especially quantum mechanics, scientists no longer see matter in this way. Things are composed of atoms, which are themselves composed of subatomic particles, which do not exist as something independent, but can only exist as a part of the whole. These atoms and subatomic particles also do not have a definite position and momentum in space until they are measured by an observer. In The Grand Design Stephen Hawking says that Individual atoms and molecules operate in a manner profoundly different from that of our everyday experience. Quantum physics is a new model of reality that gives us a picture of the universe. It is a picture in which many concepts fundamental to our intuitive understanding of reality no longer have any meaning. In order to express this new picture of reality, scientists are forced to let go of the concepts and language used in classical science. They use new words which have a more pictorial feel, like charm, colour, flavour, string, and so on. The meaning of these words does not correspond to their meaning in daily life. Scientists have seen many illogical and contradictory things in the world of quantum physics and have been forced to accept these illogical and contradictory things. One example is the dual nature of fundamental particlesthey are called particles, but they are also waves, whereas in normal daily life, waves and particles are two totally different concepts. Another example is the uncertainty principle, according to which the position and the momentum of an elementary particle cannot both simultaneously be exactly determinedthe more exactly one property is determined, the more uncertain the other becomes. Another example is that of quantum entanglement. In certain systems, two or more particles can become linked in such a way that they become fundamentally indistinguishable

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from each other regarding some or all of their properties. If entangled, one particle cannot be fully described without considering the others in the system. This one is not that one, but this one is also that one. This one is not only present here, it is also present there. Richard Feynman said that The theory of quantum electrodynamics describes Nature as absurd from the point of view of common sense... So I hope you accept Nature as She isabsurd. He also said, I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics. If we still see reality as absurd, it is because we have not yet released our notions and the habit of attempting to grasp reality through those notions. Science has begun to see that space and time are not two separate entities and are not absolute. Both space and time are dependent on mass and speed, as well as on the position and mind of the observer. Science has begun to see that nothing has an independent existence; each thing is part of a tightly interwoven net and carries the whole net within itself. Electrons do not have a separate existence; the interactive energies between an electron, its environment and other particles are part of the electron, or even comprise the whole electron. We can compare the electron with a flower. A flower is made only of nonflower elements such as sun, clouds, earth, manure, gardener and so on. If we remove the non-flower elements from the flower, the flower will cease its manifestation. The same applies to an electron, and to a star. This is what is known in Buddhism as interbeing. Interbeing means that, dependent on conditions, things manifest. The Buddha said, This is, because that is. This is not, because that is not. This is true for the pair space and time, just as it is true for all other pairs of opposites, like birth and death, being and non-being, movement and stillness, before and after, here and there, inside and outside, one and many, and so on. Looking into interbeing we can slowly release all our notions and come into contact with the ultimate reality. In Buddhism the world of birth and death and the world of no-birth, nodeath are not two separate realities. We have to look for no-birth and no-death right in the heart of birth and death. In this way, if we skilfully rely on the awareness of conditioned arising we will be able to realise the wisdom of no-birth. Skilfulness here means adaptationthe capacity to let go of our notions and the habit of grasping reality with those notions. The notions of birth and death have to be released as assumptions. The notions of nirvana, and no-birth no-death also have to be released. If we conceive of nirvana as existing outside of birth and death then it is no more than a notion.

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In Buddhist studies, practitioners are taught to look for nirvana directly in birth and death. Looking for nirvana outside of birth and death is like a wave going to search for water. A wave goes up and down, is high or low, has a beginning and an end, is, and then is no morebut all of these things are properties of the wave. If the wave knows that it is water, then the hopes, comparisons and fears that arise from the notions of going up or down, being higher or lower, existing or ceasing to exist will be ended, and the wave will be free. A wave does not need to look for water, because a wave is already water. The Middle Way In Buddhism there is the teaching of emptiness, or the middle way. Emptiness here means the absence of notions. The middle way means to transcend pairs of opposites such as birth and death, being and non-being, subjective and objective, matter and spirit and so on. Nagarjuna employed a form of dialectical reasoning in order to reduce all notions to absurdities (reductio ad absurdum). Not only do the pairs of opposites not annihilate each other but, on the contrary, they depend on each other to exist. The subject of consciousness and the object of consciousness are taken to be like that, and so too are the pairs being and non-being, birth and death. The two sides of a piece of paper are also like thatbecause one side is there, the other side is there. So it is also for the two aspects of an electron, and for a wave and particle. The middle way is the path between the extremes, not caught in either side. Anton Zeilinger has said that Ultimately, physical sciences are not sciences of nature. Nature itself is always a construction of the mind. This is also true for yogisfor yogis, nirvana, or the absolute truth, cannot be described in language or by concepts. Statements about nirvana cannot express nirvana. This is the wisdom known in Buddhism as adaptation wisdom, or conformity wisdom (anulomajnana), which we can use to take us from the conventional truth towards the absolute truth, without contradicting either truth. To begin with, Buddhism also speaks of the existence of phenomena phenomena with well-defined positions in space and time, different characteristics, and which are recognised to exist outside of each other. This corresponds to what David Bohm has called the explicate order: the conventional truth that we are used to in daily life. A can only be A and cannot at the same time be B. A chicken is a chicken and is not a table, egg or flower. This is the principle of identity. But if we apply the vision of interbeing, we see that the flower is formed only of non-flower elements such as the seed, the mud, the earth, the sunlight, the rain and so on. If we try to take any of these elements out of the flower the flower will cease to exist. In this way A is not really A but is just an aggregate of B, C, D, E, F, etc... The

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Diamond Sutra employs a similar dialectic in the following way: Living beings are not living beings, that is why they are truly living beings. Symbolically we can write AA=A. When we see that A is not really A, but is actually an aggregate composed entirely of non-A elements, then that is when we are truly able to see A. Then we can write A=B+C+D+E+... This is adaptation wisdom (anulomajnana), which has the capacity to destroy the principle of identity and bring us towards the world of conditioned arising. We see this is in that, that is in this; things are not outside of each other but are inside each other. This is the world that David Bohm has called the implicate order. With this way of seeing we begin to perceive the interbeing nature of all things. Our view begins to adapt to the vision of emptiness presented in the Heart Sutra: neither created nor destroyed, neither defiled nor immaculate, neither increasing nor decreasing. Using the wisdom of conditioned arising we can go from the view that self and dharmas (phenomena) are separately existing realities, to the vision of things as empty of a separate self or existence. This is the vision presented in the Samyukta Agama 293, called the natural flowing together of dependent co-arising and emptiness. With this way of seeing, time, space, matter and spirit are all inside each other, just as birth is present in death, and being in non-being, and nothing exists separately or outside of anything else any more. The Mathematics of Interbeing In Buddhism there is a way of seeing known as tng i which can be translated as waiting for each other, or inter-waiting, or inter-relying. This way of seeing, along with the vision of interbeing, can help us remove dualistic views and realise the wisdom of non-discriminationtouching reality as it is. The wisdom of inter-waiting is similar to the idea of symmetry in science. Similarly, interbeing can be compared with entanglement or superposition. Interbeing is proposed as a more skilful word than entanglement2 or superposition. When we use the words entanglement or superposition, we are still caught in the idea that this is not thatbecause there have to be two things in order for them to be entangled or superposed. The word interbeing is very skilful, because in it there is the word being, but we use it to remove the notion of being, without approving or confirming the notion of non-being. We use the word interbeing to remove the notion of being, in order to arrive at neither being nor non-being. According to the wisdom of inter-relying, the concept of a point and the
In fact, the German word originally used by Schrdinger to denote the concept of entanglement was verschrnkung, which can also be translated as interleaving, or interconnection.
2

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concept of a line, in geometry, depend on each other to exist. In order to define a point, we have to use the concept of the line, and in order to define the line, we have to use the concept of a point. When we say that a point is the intersection of two lines, and a line is the displacement in space of a point, then we recognise the inter-relying nature of the two concepts. When one is there, the other is there. Point and line can only appear together, in the same moment. Point and line rely on each other to be established. Point and line are not two separate realities: in the point there is the line and in the line there is the point. This is inter-relying; this is interbeing. This is also true for the concepts of addition and subtraction, as well as the concepts of positive and negative infinity. Positive and negative rely on each other to be established. The numbers that we call the rational numbers, lying between positive and negative infinity, are also like this. The number 1 can be expressed in terms of sums of other numbers, for example, 6 - 5, or -4 + 5, or 7 - 4 - 2. And all the other numbers can be defined in terms of the number 1. So conceptually we can see that all the numbers are present in the number 1, and the number 1 is present in all the other numbersjust as in the flower there is the cloud, the sunshine, the earth and the entire cosmos. The flower seems to be small, but it contains the entire cosmos. Overcoming the ideas of small or large, inside and outside, we can truly see the flower. Seeing that the ideas of beginning and ending depend on each other to arise, then so can we also see that the ideas of positive and negative infinity depend on each other to manifest. In geometry, it is possible to wrap a line extending from negative infinity to positive infinity, around a circle, with the point at the top of the circle representing both positive and negative infinity. Every single point on the line corresponds to a point on the circle.
A B - a b c + C

In the diagram, the points a, b, and c, on the line, are mapped respectively to the points A, B, and C, on the circle. We can see that as we wrap the two ends (negative infinity and positive infinity) towards the top of the circle, the infinitely large can fit in a finite space, just as the whole cosmos is present in a flower. Points

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further and further in the directions of positive and negative infinity have to be squeezed closer and closer together on the circle, getting infinitely close, but never reaching, the top of the circle. At the point on the top, positive and negative infinity come together as one. We are used to representing the passage of time with a straight line extending from the past, through the present, to the future.
ps a t pst re en f ue ur t

We may have the idea that the section belonging to the past is getting gradually longer, and the section belonging to the future is getting correspondingly shorter. In Buddhism, time can be represented by a circlerather like wrapping the line onto the circle as above. We may like to imagine a slide-projector, with 100 slides, in which the slide being projected represents the present, and the slides are shown one by one, coming from the side of the future and being stocked away on the side of the past.

ps a t pst re en

f ue ur t

When slide number 100 is shown, slide number one has come all the way round to the side of the future, ready to be projected again in the present. In Buddhism we speak of vipaka, which can be translated as maturation, ripening, or concoction. Vipaka is one of the functions of store consciousness. The mind can be described as a store of seeds that undergo a process of maturation and gradually ripen. Our experiences and actions in the present moment are stored as seeds in store consciousness. This is like the slides passing from the moment of projection, and being stocked away on the side of the past. The slides going around the carousel represent all the seeds in our store consciousnessthe seeds planted by our actions and those planted by the actions of our ancestors. These seeds gradually undergo a process of maturationthey are cooked by store consciousnessand at some point in the future, they ripen and manifest again in the present moment. The image of the slide-projector is good but it is incomplete, since the slides do

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not change as they go from the present, to the past, around to the future and into the present again, whereas in store consciousness, the seeds are all of an organic nature and are always changing. All the seeds are maturing in our consciousness in every moment. The seeds sown in the present moment become those of the past. These seeds of the past, stocked in store consciousness, will mature and eventually ripen as the basis of an action in the present moment. Nothing is lost, and every action, every seed, in the past, has a consequence in the future. This is why karma, the Sanskrit word for action, includes time and spacethat is, everything. And time and space interare with action: every moment contains actions of the past, present and future. Present action becomes the past, past action matures as the future, and the future ripens as present action. The three times are inextricably linkedin Buddhism this is known as the interbeing of the three times. On a one dimensional line, one point can always be compared to another in terms of being greater than, less than, or equal to the other one. In a similar way, we are often caught in the tendency to compare. We may compare ourselves in terms of weight, height, wealth, success, or power, and find that we are superior, inferior or equal to the other person. But we can only ever compare one of these aspects at a time. As soon as we try to compare two or more aspects of things at the same time, we find situations in which we cannot say one is greater or less than the other, but in which the two are also not the same, and thus are not equal. For example Alan is 170cm tall and weighs 60kg. Bob is 150cm and weighs 100kg. The two aspects of height and weight cannot be compared at the same time. In mathematics, on a 2D plane, when we compare two different points lying on a circle, they are not equal, but nor can we say that one is greater or less than the other.3 Because we see that each thing has multiple aspects or variables, we recognise the futility of comparison and are released from the three complexes of superiority, inferiority, and equality. When we stop comparing, the wisdom of non-discrimination manifests. The particular aspect of an object is of equal significance to the universal aspect, because the particular is also a kind of universal. In set theory, a subset (particular) can also be a parent set (universal) in relation to its own subsets. The elements that make up a house, the windows, doors, bricks and roof, are considered to be the particular aspects of the house. But the window is also the universal aspect of its constituents: wood, nails, glass, etc. Particular and universal are just designations. In another example from set theory, if A is a subset of B and
If we plotted this example on a graph, with height on one axis and weight on the other, Alan and Bob would both be the same distance from the origin, i.e. they would lie on a circle, of radius (1702 + 602) = (1502 + 1002) = 3250 180
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B is also a subset of A then A=B because all the elements of A are in B and all the elements of B are in A. This corresponds to our conventional view of reality. But looking deeply into the ultimate nature of reality, we see, for instance, that our father is in us, and we are in our father, and yet we are not the same as our father. We are neither the same nor different. Set theory as it is currently formulated cannot account for this kind of relationship. Mathematics built upon logical formalism and the principle of identity will have to change in order to be able to describe and convey the reality of interbeing and non-dualism. Are you, as a young scientist, able to create a new mathematics, founded on middle way dialectics, the contemplation of the middle way, and the insight of interbeing? Middle way dialectics means just this: if you look into A but only see non-A elements, then you have truly seen A. A is just a conventional designation. A is not an entity. A can only continue to exist in a relationship of conditioned co-arising with all non-A elements. This is the insight of interbeing. Going Together, Hand in Hand Yogis are very happy when they see that scientists have been able to explain and demonstrate the things that were previously discovered by intuition and meditation, like the no-birth, no-death nature of matter and energy, the nondual aspect of wave and particle, of space and time, the interconnectedness of all phenomena, the interbeing nature and non-local nature of atoms and subatomic particles. Yogis can use these discoveries to speak about and to explain their realisations on the spiritual path. This is why the yogis and the scientists need to work together. Scientists can design experiments to help yogis explain what they have discovered in the realm of the spirit. Scientists can also inherit and benefit from the discoveries and the methods of the yogis. This includes methods of practice like mindfulness, concentration and insight, used as tools to release the obstacles of our knowledge and our afflictions. If we know how to use these methods we will be more effective in the work of research and discovery; we will more easily release our habits of thought and our notions, and be able to truly enter the ultimate dimension. Now many scientists recognise that they are entering the domain of philosophy and are knocking on the door of ontology. There are many examples of scientific discoveries that can help yogis to better understand and explain their realisations. One of these is from modern biology, which has revealed that symbiosis may be much more prevalent in living systems and organisms than previously thought. The biologist Lynn Margulis has suggested that the Darwinian picture of evolution driven solely by competition is incomplete.

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She points out that evolution is in fact strongly based on co-operation, interaction and mutual-dependence among organisms. It is now generally agreed that certain organelles of the eukaryotic cell, in particular mitochondria and chloroplasts, were originally bacterial endosymbionts. Mitochondria, present in every human cell, are responsible for generating most of the energy for the cell to usethey are sometimes called the powerhouses of the cell. Without mitochondria we could not lift even a feather, or walk, or breathe. But mitochondria have their own DNA, separate from the human genome, and may once have been independently living bacteria. Very early in the story of evolution they made their home in larger eukaryotic cells and in exchange provided ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the unit of intracellular energy transfer, for the cell. Chloroplasts are essential for the process of photosynthesis, and are thus present in all plant cells that perform photosynthesisthey are also responsible for the green colour of all leaves. They are able to capture light energy and store it in the form of ATP, which is then available as usable energy for the plant. Chloroplasts also have their own separate DNA and are believed to have originated from free-living cyanobacteria, which were incorporated into the eukaryotic cell through endosymbiosis, around one and a half billion years ago. These are just two of the many examples from modern biology that illustrate the interconnected and interdependent nature of all life. Can we imagine a world without photosynthesis? A world without trees and green leaves, cool shade and oxygen for us to breathe. As yogis and scientists, we can use examples like these to demonstrate and explain the idea of interbeing. Looking deeply into our own bodies we recognise that we are not individuals, but communities. When we see that every cell in our body depends on symbiosis to function we are able to touch our no-self nature. Another example is from the discipline of archaeology. Before the discovery of the Pillars of Ashoka (inscribed with the Ashoka Edicts) and the ancient Sutras inscribed on palm leaves, Westerners still thought that the Buddha was a mythological figure, a deity imagined by the East, and not a historical person. Archaeologists and philologists have helped enormously in the work of identifying the sources of early Buddhist sutrasunderstanding when and where they appearedso that Buddhists can have a more exact view of the history of Buddhist thought and teaching. Todays telescopes and modern astrophysics can also help Buddhists refine their views regarding the great trichiliocosm. In Europe, before the birth of Copernicus, and before the invention of the telescope, the cosmos was very small. Galileo, when he became blind in 1638, wrote to his friend Diodati that he had seen a universe one hundred thousand times greater than the universe conceived of up until that point by Western

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Philosophy. In India, at the time of the Buddha, more than 2000 years earlier, philosophers had already been able to see somewhat more. Time, in Buddhism, is not measured in years but in kalpas. One kalpa is more than 1,280,000,000 years. The image used to describe a kalpa is like so: imagine a huge mountain, perhaps in the Himalayas, and imagine that just once every hundred years a man climbs up to the top, and brushes it once, with a silken duster. The time it takes for the mountain to be completely razed to the ground is less than one kalpa. In another image, an entire world is crushed to dust then one speck of dust represents the life of a person. These are the images given in the Lotus Sutra, which speaks about the Buddha Mahabhijnabhibhu. A minor universe, according to Buddhism is made of many stars, suns and moons. One thousand such minor universes make up a small universe (small chiliocosm). One thousand small chiliocosms together form a medium chiliocosm, and one thousand medium chiliocosms like that form a great chiliocosm. Buddhist sutras usually speak about the three thousand great chiliocosm cosmosthat is, a universe that is made up of three thousand great chiliocosms, as described above. In Sanskrit this is written tri-sahasra-maha-sahasra-lokadhatu. According to Buddhism, life is not present only here on Earth, but in many places throughout the immensity of the universe. This is the Buddhist view of the cosmos, attained by insight and then described in a simplified form; just as Siddharthas contact with suffering in life is represented in simplified form by the image of him going out four times through the four doors of the Royal Palace. We should not compare this description with the modern scientific view of the cosmos. The intention of Buddhism is not to seek to understand the universe but to look for practices that can help us to overcome the obstacles of our knowledge and our suffering, so that we can live with more freedom, peace and happiness. In the time of the Buddha there were countless people, including some of the Buddhas own disciples, who asked the Buddha metaphysical questions about the universe and the world. They asked questions such as, How old is the universe? or, Is the universe limited or unlimited? The Buddha always replied that these were not very important questions, and the people often did not accept this answer. The Buddha said that people should ask questions about suffering and about the way to transform suffering. Scientists are also people who have suffering and who want to find happiness. That is why we have to see Buddhism as a kind of science which has realistic methods to transform suffering and generate happiness. The great scientist Albert Einstein had a lot of suffering throughout his life. He couldnt communicate easily with his wife or his children. He was not able to see that to be in touch with oneself, to understand ones own suffering,

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to accept oneself, and to be able to bring peace to ones mind and body, are all urgent topics for science. It is a field of scientific enquiry directed inwards. If we are able to understand ourselves and accept ourselves then it becomes much easier to understand and accept others. When we are mindful, we can recognise and be in touch with what is happening in the present moment. And if we maintain this awareness then insight will arise. We will be able to see that our consciousness is a flowing-together of many streams and we will be able to overcome the ideas of inside and outside, subjective and objective, and subject and object of consciousness. The uncertainty and the probabilistic nature of that which we seek to understand comes from the way the streams of our consciousness flow out. We see that the universal aspect of something is just a sign, without reality, just as the particular is also a sign, without reality. This is because we can also see the particular as a kind of universal, relative to its own particular aspects. For example, we can see that snow and cloud are two different universals, without reality, in respect of which H2O can be called a particular, also without reality. But H2O is a universal relative to the atoms oxygen and hydrogen; while atoms are themselves universals, relative to the sub-atomic particles. In Buddhism all signs are empty. All signs are marked with emptinessthe signs of birth and death, the signs of coming and going. When we can see that no sign has a self-nature, not only do we let go of all notions and assumptions, but there is also no longer anything to call absurd. Surely we should have a spiritual practice that brings about peace and happiness, freedom and contentment, joy of life, and an enhanced ability to understand and communicate with others, with nature, with mother earth, and with father sky. Do you, as a young scientist, recognise and feel the need to find such a path? A spiritual path, a way leading back to your mind, to the source; a kind of religion not based on a divinity as the ultimate cause, but only on that which can be verified and tested by the experience of many people. A Spirituality for the Scientist and the Yogi Each of us needs a spiritual dimension in our daily life. If we lack a spiritual dimension, it may be very difficult for us to overcome the challenges and difficulties we encounter. As scientists we also need a spiritual life. This spiritual life should be based on evidence, which can be verified, not on esoteric beliefs which cannot be tested. Below we propose a number of basic principles as a foundation for this kind of spiritual practice.

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We can sit down together and share in order to establish an outline, or record a number insights upon which both scientists and spiritual practitioners can agree. For instance: 1. Looking into ourselves and into the universe, we see a profound harmony and beauty that causes to arise in us feelings of admiration, wonder, and reverence, which in turn nourish the will to discover and to love. 2. This feeling of admiration and reverence can help us to get closer to ourselves and to the cosmos, in the spirit of non-duality. In this way we can overcome the obstacle of perceiving subject and object as two separate entities. 3. There are two kinds of truth: the conventional truth and the absolute truth. And one truth can lead to the other truth, without opposition or contradiction, if we can slowly and skilfully release our ideas and notions about reality. The discriminative mind can bring about non-discriminative wisdom. 4. Ultimate reality cannot be grasped by means of concepts and cannot be described by words and concepts. 5. Direct intuition can bring about profound insights into the nature of reality and the value of those insights can be confirmed by scientific experiments. 6. Human consciousness is the basic tool in the search for truth. The functioning of this consciousness can be limited by prejudices (knowledge as an obstacle) and suffering (afflictions as an obstacle). There are practices that help us release our prejudices and transform our suffering, fear, worries, anxiety, craving, hatred, and despair, so that our mind can regain its clarity and its wonderful capacity of shining light on the nature of things. 7. Observing nature in terms of matter, energy, and mind, we see that nothing is born, nothing dies, there is neither increase nor decrease, and the ideas of being and non-being, birth and death, increasing and decreasing, coming and going cannot be applied to reality. 8. The idea that mind and matter, subject and object of perception, as things which can exist outside of each other, need to be removed. 9. Time and space are not separate entities and are not separate from the consciousness of an observer. All of themtime, space and observerrely on each other to manifest.

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10. To be, is to inter-be (to co-be). Things cannot be by themselves alone. 11. The one depends on the many to exist; the many depends on the one to exist. The ideas of one and many, sameness and otherness must also be transcended. 12. Body and mind cannot exist apart from each other as independent entities. Body cannot be removed from mind and mind cannot be removed from body. Body and mind are like the two sides of a sheet of paperone side relying on the other to exist. 13. The no-birth, no-death nature of things necessarily implies the no-being, no non-being nature of things. Nothing is born and nothing diesthere is only manifestation. It is not because something manifests that we can say that it exists, and it is not because something has not yet manifested that we can say it does not exist. Nothing can pass from non-being into being, and nothing can pass from being into non-being. Being and non-being are only ideas. 14. Things do not have a separate self-nature (svabhava). A flower manifests as the coming together of countless non-flower elements, such as sunlight, clouds, rain, soil, fertiliser, seed and so on. A flower cannot be by itself alonea flower depends on innumerable conditions in order to manifest. The flower, and all phenomena, are empty of a separate self. Non-self, impermanence, and interbeing are the true nature of all things. 15. Subject and object of consciousness cannot exist independently of one another. Perception and object of perception go together. The subject of perception cannot be without the object of perception; in fact the object of perception is present in the subject of perception. 16. Ultimate reality transcends all notions, such as being and non-being, birth and death, coming and going, before and after, good and evil, subject and object. 17. Experiences of suffering and happiness lead to the idea of good and evil. Suffering and happiness are not an objective reality, they depend on the way of looking and understanding of each individual. A transformation of our mind and our thinking can turn suffering into happiness or happiness into suffering. The same is true with good and eviland these notions can also be given upthey do not correspond to the true nature of reality. 18. If the insights of no birth, no death, no being and no non-being, are

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maintained by the energies of mindfulness and concentration, they can transform worries, anxieties and fears and make happiness grow. 19. Understanding the nature and roots of the suffering in ourselves and in others enables us to cultivate acceptance, love, forgiveness and the desire to help. 20. Clinging to ideas, discriminative and dualistic views bring about fear, anxiety, hatred and violence. The insights of interconnectedness, non-duality and togetherness bring about acceptance, love, and peace. 21. Fear, hatred, intolerance and despair are energies that can cause great suffering to ourselves and to others. Compassion, understanding, forgiveness, hope and joy have the capacity to bring about healing, reconciliation and happiness. Recognising and understanding our own suffering can help us more easily recognise and understand the suffering of others. 22. There are ways of living and acting that can bring about either suffering or happiness, for ourselves and for others. These ways of acting may be described as positive or negative, good or bad. The way of acting that has the capacity to bring peace, reconciliation, and happiness can be called applied ethics. Applied ethics is based on a profound and solid understanding of realityon a kind of insight which transcends all discrimination and prejudice. This insight is known as right viewa view which transcends all dualistic thinking. This insight is a kind of meta-ethics. 23. The founding principles of applied ethics can be based on the nondualistic view. If we live according to these principles, we, as human beings, will have the capacity to generate happiness and transform suffering. Wrong view leads to wrong thinking, wrong speech and wrong actions, which have the capacity to bring about suffering. Right view, on the other hand, gives rise to right thinking, right speech and right actions which have the capacity to bring about reconciliation, happiness and relieve suffering. Wrong view is the kind of view which is caught in the notions of being and non-being, birth and death, inside and outside, self and other. These ideas bring about complexes, discrimination, fear, worries, hatred and conflict. Right view is the kind of view that is based on the insights of dependent co-arising and interbeing, which help us transcend all discrimination, complexes, fear, worries, hatred and conflict; giving rise to the kind of thought, speech, and action that has the quality of non-discrimination, acceptance, understanding and love. 24. The insights of both scientists and yogis should be applied not only

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to the domain of technology but also to our ways of acting and living, in order to transform fear, discrimination, hatred, and bring about communication, reconciliation, harmony, togetherness and happiness. 25. Discoveries made by yogis can be verified by science and scientists should accept the truth of those discoveries if they are not able to disprove them. 26. The practice of generating mindfulness and concentration can bring about insight. These energies can be generated by our daily practice. 27. The practice of mindful breathing and mindful walking can help us go back to the present moment. The practice helps us get in touch with our bodies, with our feelings, our perceptions, mental formations and consciousness, as well as with all the wonders of life that are available to us, such as planet earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, and everything that has the capacity to nourish and heal our bodies and minds. 28. Mindfulness practice can help us to let go, to release tension and stress in our body and mind, easing the pain in our body and mind. 29. Recognizing and embracing pain and suffering with mindfulness can bring about the relief of that pain and suffering. The collective energy of mindfulness generated by a group of able practitioners can help us to take care of our suffering and transform it much more easily. 30. The energies of mindfulness, concentration, and insight can help us recognize strong emotions, and quickly transform those feelings into calm and peace. 31. The practice of deep listening and loving speech can help us re-establish communication, relieve suffering, and bring about reconciliation. Compassionate listening can help to relieve the suffering of the other person. The practice of deep, compassionate listening will be successful if we are able to maintain mindfulness of compassion throughout the whole time of listening. If we are able to maintain mindfulness of compassion in us, then the seeds of irritation will not be watered as we listen, and we will not interrupt the other person. 32. Looking deeply into ourselves, we see Mother Earth, Father Sun, and the stars, even though they are physically very distant. We and Mother Earth are not two separate realities: we are Mother Earth and Mother Earth is us. Mother Earth is not just the environment, Mother Earth is us. We must live our lives in such

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a way that Mother Earth can remain fresh and green for a long time. If Mother Earth withers, we will also wither and die. The presence of Mother Earth is our own presence, and looking deeply into our own true nature and that of Mother Earth, we see that they are both the nature of no birth and no death. Our life span is not limited to just 100 years, because we and our mother are not two separate entities. A global applied ethic should be built on that insight, and no matter who we are, whether scientists, politicians, businesspeople or spiritual practitioners, no matter to which religion or political party we belong, our way of life should reflect this insight.

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Plum Village Practice Center, France